Behind the Numbers Archive: Post Polls

By a wide 17-point margin, Americans in union households say Democrats are more likely than Republicans to understand the economic problems people are having (43 to 26 percent).

Just over a third of those in union households in a new poll from The Washington Post, the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health say President Obama's economic program is making things better, far from a majority, but a higher number than among non-union households.

In Dec. 2007, 22 percent of Americans said they would be less apt to vote for a Mormon presidential candidate. That was higher than the percentages saying they would be less likely to support someone who has been a religious leader (19 percent), a woman (15) or an African American (5).

But also notable is that the percentage turning away from a Mormon candidate dropped significantly - by 13 percentage points - between Dec. 2006 and Dec. 2007. Over this same time period, the percentage of Republicans and GOP-leaning independents saying being a Mormon was of no consequence rose 11 points to 72 percent, as the percentage less likely to vote for a Mormon candidate dropped from 36 to 21 percent.

Despite high public expectations that Barack Obama's presidency would improve race relations in the country, barely more than a third of all Americans now say his tenure has made things better in this area, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates on Thursday announced proposals to cut $78 billion in the Pentagon's spending over the next five years. That's unusual news for a department that's seen rapidly increasing budgets for the past decade, and may meet with public resistance.